Birds in my pole barn!

[Sirshredalot]

Hey ingo.

So I've got a barn covered in bird crap....on the inside.
I can hear pigeons but also see what I believe are sparrows?

I don't want to shoot holes in my tin roof, and my hen and rooster are close by as well, so poison is out.
How do I get rid of these pests?

The barn cat can't get to them as they roost in the soffit and rafters 15ft high.

Please and thank you
God bless
- Shred

 

[embmtxatl]

Maybe they are barn swallows? I thought they are good to have around to keep bugs down?

 

[Rookie]

Pellet gun.

 

[17 squirrel]

Poison bird seed up on the beams.

 

[spencer rifle]

If it's barn swallows, they don't eat bird seed - only insects. I agree with pellet gun for the sparrows.

 

[bocefus78]

Airsoft. It may not kill em, but it will deter them while keeping your roof intact.
Its also incredibly fun. Wear goggles BTW.

 

[chuckp]

22lr smoothbore shotgun.

Depending on the distance it should not put holes in the metal. Now a 22wmr smoothbore shotgun might do some damage to the metal.

Chuck

 

[Hardscrable]

BB or pellet gun. Shot hundreds if not thousands as a kid. Regardless you will need to eliminate the entry points or your efforts will be futile.

 

[natdscott]

Until you replace your sliding doors with overheads that seal, and replace/repair any sections of siding/roofing/soffit allowing access, you will have problesm with birds.

-Nate

 

[MRP2003]

get a couple of barn cats. Birds will go away soon but you may have a cat problem shortly. Keeping 1-3 around should greatly reduce your bird problem and probably any rodent issues that you may not be aware of.

 

[embmtxatl]

Airsoft. It may not kill em, but it will deter them while keeping your roof intact.
Its also incredibly fun. Wear goggles BTW.

HAHA sounds like you had a bad experience bocefus

 

[Que]

I have absolutely no experience with this, but can you possibly smoke them out?

 

[possumpacker]

just wait till dark and shut the doors. turn on the lights and use a 22 rifle with bird shot. i do it 2 or three times a year and works pretty good.

 

[Dead Duck]

African or European sparrows?

 

[oldpink]

If they're pigeons, starlings, and sparrows, put a pan of bird seed mixed with Sacrete on the floor.
They'll eat it and the Sacrete will set up in their intestines, killing them.
My grandparents used to do this to eliminate pest birds in their own barns.
If you want a more selective method, get yourself an air rifle.
I'd ordinarily recommend one of the more powerful spring piston guns (Gamo, RWS, Crosman, etc.), but those have a bit more punch than you may want hitting your roof.
With that said, the ideal air rifle would be a pump gun that allows you to attenuate your power so that you don't punch holes through your roof.
For that, I'd highly recommend the excellent Crosman 2100 Classic.
You can pump it all the way up to ten times and get just short of 800 fps for picking off pests outside where you're unconcerned with punching holes through your roof, or you can pump it only four times and have plenty of power to nail the pests inside your barn without fear of damaging your roof from inside.
Use pellets only, preferably some decent quality round nose pellets; and Crosman makes some decent ones of that sort.
If you want to spend a bit more and see if you can get the most out of your rifle, check out the H&N, Beeman, or (the best of the lot) JSB Exact round nose pellets.
When I was a teenager, I had a Crosman 2100, and I killed somewhere around 100 sparrows and starlings with it, both out of the trees around my grandparents' house and inside their detached garage.

 

[Sirshredalot]

OldPink, this sounds like good advice.

Ive wanted a decent air rifle for pests and plinking for quite some time...this is a good excuse to get one.

As far as the sacrete/seed ...sounds rough...but its them or my barn...and Im not giving up my barn....gonna try it.

A friend also mentioned axle/bearing grease on the rafters...anyone?

God bless
-Shred

 

[midget]

Birds hate getting sticky and gummy stuff on their feet, so that would probably work.

 

[oldpink]

OldPink, this sounds like good advice.

Ive wanted a decent air rifle for pests and plinking for quite some time...this is a good excuse to get one.

As far as the sacrete/seed ...sounds rough...but its them or my barn...and Im not giving up my barn....gonna try it.

A friend also mentioned axle/bearing grease on the rafters...anyone?

God bless
-Shred

There's a really nasty concoction called Tanglefoot that's intended to keep insects off of fruit trees that birds absolutely loath.
It has the consistency of thick honey, and it stays extremely sticky for a long time.
Just be careful how you handle it because of its extreme tackiness.
Rubber gloves and a spatula of some sort that you don't mind parting with are highly recommended.
btw...I have used Tanglefoot by smearing it at the entry/exit points for buildings, smearing it all the way around the hole, then had my brother spook starlings out through the hole from inside the building, while I stood right below the hole with my air rifle at the ready.
When those nasty starlings try to make an escape through the holes, they get the Tanglefoot on their wings, and unable to fly, drop like rocks.
It's no problem at all to pick them off with an air rifle then, or even by hand (gloves required, naturally because of that gooey Tanglefoot) by simply grabbing them and wringing their necks.

 

[17 squirrel]

What about using a propane fogger with certain pesticides mixed in it. Like organophosphates such as Diazinon or dursban. Quick easy. Put on a good mask and fog away..

 

[Zoub]

Just put some Phil Collins, Rod Stewart and Barry Manilow on endless loop. Fix the points of entry or get use to poop every year.